“Vranckx and the Nomads” to former boarding schools for Native Americans: “Kill the Indians, save the man”

Today it is very quiet on the campus of Siloko Indian Agricultural School. Limestone buildings with more than 17,000 students at one time. Today the roofs are crumbling, the doors are locked, the walls are covered with barriers, and the windows are smashed.

Jim Baker, a former Chiloco student who worked as a supervisor for many years before the school closed in 1980, said: “I often remember laughing. He is nostalgic for the place where he grew up, but underscores the harsh living conditions.

Until the 1930s, the school maintained strict military rule. “Buckle was thrown twenty-two times,” Baker says. “Students wore government uniforms, had meager food, and had to work hard in the fields or in the garage to maintain the school.”

In the 1950s, life in Chiloko was low, but the indigenous culture was still destroyed. According to Baker, the school was “a home and refuge for some, a prison and a prison for others.” Jim’s wife, Charmin Baker, gets emotional when we walk into an old hostel. “It took me fourteen years to put it all together,” she whispered softly.

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